U.S. media and libel law: An international perspective

Abstract

This article examines various issues facing American media when sued by foreign libel plaintiffs in U.S. courts. Foreign plaintiffs tend to be well-financed and internationally prominent public figures. For them, real vindication of their allegedly damaged reputation is not at the top of their litigational agenda. Rather, they often try to take advantage of such libel trials for political and ideological gains in their home countries. In adjudicating international libel litigation, American courts have enunciated various choice of law tests for balancing between the first amendment interests of the American press and foreigners' reputations. The Desai test, for example, recognizes first amendment protections for domestic publication of defamation by focusing on the status of plaintiff and the application of foreign libel law to the intentional and direct extraterritorial publication of the challenged statement so long as abandonment of first amendment protections is established.